All about Bette Midler and Sue Mengers  the new Broadway shows that will tell all

I gave an interview recently to Mark Blankenship of TDF Stages: A Theatre Magazine. Here’s what happened and what Mr. B wrote:

The gossip queen is a unique expert on the Broadway season. If you’re looking for an expert on this spring’s Broadway plays, then start with Liz Smith. Not because she wrote the scripts or designed the costumes, but because she knew the people the plays are about and because she’s probably having cocktails with the actresses who play them.

Smith is an institution of celebrity reporting and gossip. With almost 60 years’ experience — including her current work at The Huffington Post, NewYorkSocialDiary.com, and Wowowow.com — she’s gotten to know almost everyone there is to know. That gives her a unique perspective on two Broadway plays: “Ann,” which was written by and stars Holland Taylor as former Texas governor Ann Richards, and “I’ll Eat You Last,” which stars Bette Midler as legendary Hollywood agent Sue Mengers. Smith was close with Richards, knew Mengers, and is friends with both Taylor and Midler.

In other words, she can answer questions that plenty of other people can’t.

For instance, how might Richards have felt about her life being turned into a play? “I think she would have enjoyed it, but I think she would have thought Holland was totally insane,” Smith says. “Because Holland knows more about Ann than anybody in the world now.”

It’s easy to see why Richards — who shot to fame after her fiery speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention and went on to spend a term as Texas governor — would make for good theater. “She was so energetic!” Smith recalls. “(Her boyfriend) and I would go with Ann to the theatre, and she would leave us! We’d be back at the light, creeping along like we were 85, and Ann would be two blocks ahead.”

Her wit matched her energy. Smith, who is also from Texas, recalls being invited to speak on a panel for comic women in the 1980s. Richards, who was then the Texas state treasurer, was also there, and Smith says, “She was the person who was funny. The rest of us were supposed to be funny, but we weren’t funny at all.”